Memories and Farewell
by TheSpriteOfJayum
Summary: This is the part in the beginning at the end of Carl & Ellie F.'s life together. Carl reminisces and visits Ellie in her last hours. CarlXEllie. Please Review


Sitting in the waiting room of the Marshall Hospital, Carl Fredricksen and a balloon in his hand waited impatiently. 

_ Please, God, now. _Carl pleaded. _I've been waiting ten minutes already. _How could the old man wait any longer?

**"Ah, what a day!" Carl exclaimed walking into a ticket office. Not only was it lovely outside, but this was a day he and his wife Ellie had been waiting for. The dream was born seventy years ago when the two were bright, creative ragamuffins growing up in 1939, the end of the Great Depression and the start of World War Two. The two had met in their house, which was then an abandoned Victorian-style house Ellie adopted as her clubhouse. Later that day Carl broke his arm due to a nasty fall and was put to bed when he arrived home in the evening. Ellie snuck in through the window and showed him under a make-shift tent her prized possession, her adventure book. Both kids were avid fans of Charles Muntz who was the most popular explorer of the unknown.**

**"When I grow up, I'm goin' where he's goin." Ellie told an awestruck Carl. "There's Paradise Falls, and I'm gonna put my clubhouse there." From that day forward, that was going to be their goal in life. **

A rather large woman dragging a little boy along with her marched into the sitting room. The child's screams rang in Carl's hearing aid; Carl clutched the device with his fingers as he groaned in pain.

"Eric, don't scream." The lady lectured. "You're hurting that grandpa man's ears. After a while, we'll go see Aunt Betty.."

Carl had to flinch at "grandpa." That common word stung him like a hornet.

**It had been three years since Carl and Ellie's wedding day. They settled well as employees of the local zoo; Carl was in charge of a balloon stand while Ellie worked with the exotic birds in the South America exhibit. Ellie watered her magnolias in the front yard on this 1954 summer day. She dashed inside the now repaired clubhouse that she and Carl transformed into their home and ran back outside with a wicker picnic basket and placed in the car.**

** "Carl!" Ellie called. The modest young man perked up his head from mowing the front lawn at the sound of her voice. He stared at her with a shy smile. To him, she was beautiful. "Come on, or we'll miss our picnic." He sighed in sweet defeat; those turquoise blue eyes were too innocent to say "no" to. In no time, they arrived to their favorite hill.**

** Ellie, more nimble than Carl, sped to the top of the hill under the tree. **

** "Ha!" She laughed triumphantly. "Beat you!" Carl, not as active as his spunky wife, struggled at the bottom. "Oh, Carl, honey. You can do better than that." It wasn't long before Carl made it. After eating sandwiches and some fruit, the young couple laid on their checkerboard blanket to watch the clouds and daydream.**

** Each would pick a certain cloud and imagine something to the shape. Ellie was naming off all sorts of things, from a jackalope to a TV to Marie Antoinette. Carl was highly disappointed at his lack of inspiration that day. Suddenly he spotted a cloud.**

** "Oh, look!" He said, pointing at a cloud that resembled a laughing baby.**

** "A baby!" She cried. "We should have a baby. And more babies!"**

**This dream was to die for. After three years of being well settled, both agreed it was about time to start a family. Hopes were high for Carl and Ellie as they waited in a hospital lobby. For the past two weeks ever since Ellie took the tests, they had spent hours and hours turning a spare bedroom into the baby's room, deciding a good solid name, and setting the standards for child discipline. **

** "So it's Robert Carl Fredricksen for a boy." Carl said smiling.**

** "And Kathleen Mary for a girl." Ellie added giggling.**

** "I liked Kathleen Ellie better." Carl replied teasing. The doctor swung open the doors, and the excited couple rose to their feet. They followed the man into his office. While Carl and Ellie smiled, the doctor had a disappointed look on his face.**

** "Mr. and Mrs. Fredricksen, I'm sorry to tell you this, but Mrs. Fredricksen's tests have shown to me that she won't be able to have children." Ellie's face turned a ghastly white, her grin instantly dropping. Out of pure shock and disappointment, she slowly fell backwards. Carl caught her just in time and pulled up a chair for her to sit in.**

** "E-Ellie, sweetheart?" Carl asked worryingly, bending down to her eye level. "Are you okay?" He tried to look cheerful, but the sudden news hindered him. She didn't answer him, still in shock. Finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore; Ellie buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly. The doctor told Carl they could go home, and the equally devastated husband walked his wife back to their car.**

"Frances Carpenter," a nurse called. "Elizabeth Black will see you now." The woman and her son walked away down a hall.

_That's no fair. _Carl protested in his mind. _They just got here! Okay, how about now?_ Two minutes had passed and Carl wasn't called yet. Another couple of minutes went by; still no "Carl Fredricksen."

Back to his reminiscing, **the days following the doctor's appointment were dark days for the Fredricksens, especially Ellie. There would be no little boy to fish or play baseball with, no little girl to play mommy with her dolls, no young man to teach how to fix a car, no young lady to make beautiful for her senior prom, and worst of all, at the end there would be no one to escort down the aisle for them to start a family and start the cycle all over again.**

** "Poor Ellie," Carl thought looking into the yard at his mourning wife. **

** Something struck Carl. He dug through box after box in the attic and pulled out Ellie's old adventure book, a dream set aside. Would this one work? After the unsuccessful attempt of having children, they might as well try another goal. Carl snuck up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see her adventure book lying in her lap. **

** "Thanks, honey." She whispered. "This really made my day."**

** Just like with the baby, only longer, Carl and Ellie were up again and for years were saving up for their voyage to Paradise Falls. **

_Now if only-_he began thinking.

"Carl Fredricksen, Ellie will see you now." The nurse announced. Carl got up eagerly with the help of his cane and through the elevators and halls remembered. He was back at where he started remembering, the ticket office.

** After several decades of saving up, they finally raised enough. They were old, retired from their zoo career, and taking care of their also old home. Carl walked up to the desk, and the clerk handed him two tickets he ordered a few weeks ago. **

** "Thank you so much." He told the clerk.**

** "You're very welcome, sir." She replied.**

** "Oh, Carl, honey, you're home." Ellie said from the kitchen. "I've packed a lunch so we can go picnic at our hill." Ellie's hair had turned from a pretty red to a grayish white, and wrinkles hid the cute freckles on her face, but Carl still saw the beautiful woman he married. **

** "Oh, sweetheart, that's wonderful." He replied. "I'll take the picnic basket." He walked into the kitchen and snuck in the tickets. **_**Won't Ellie be surprised. **_**He thought as he climbed to the top of the hill. To his surprise, Ellie hadn't made it to the top like she always did, only to turn and find her somewhat struggling up the hill like he used to. **

** "Carl?" She called before she fell. She tried getting up but fell down again. **

** "Ellie!" Carl cried. He ran down the hill to help her up. She fell unconscious in his arms, and Carl rushed her to the hospital. Ellie was diagnosed with having a stroke and stayed overnight in the hospital.**

"Ellie, please be all right." He prayed. Carl looked at the balloon in his hand and let it float to his little wife laying in a hospital bed with her adventure book.

"Honey," She greeted. He about wanted to cry on the spot; it broke his heart to see her like this. Carl walked over to her bedside and held her frail hand. "I want you to have this now." She told Carl, pushing her adventure book into his hands.

"That's yours, sweetheart." He protested.

"But now I'm giving it to you." She replied. "I may not go on for much longer; I don't know."

"Don't talk like that." Carl said. "You'll be all right."

"Carl, I know that." Ellie reassured her husband. "Even when I'm gone, don't forget our dream."

"I won't." He promised her. "I won't forget, Ellie." She smiled him and stroked his cheek.

"Mr. Fredricksen," A nurse standing in the doorway said. "We'll need to take Ellie now to check up on her."

"All right, nurse." Carl replied. He turned to his wife and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Ellie."

"I love you too, Carl." Ellie responded. He walked with Ellie's hospital bed and watched it be wheeled away down another hallway.

When he returned home, Carl sat down in his chair in the living room. He looked at Ellie's empty high-backed chair. How it pained him to know that she might never sit in it next to him again. He opened Ellie's adventure book and looked at the drawings, scraps, and pictures she gathered as a girl onto the first few pages. He turned to a page titled "Stuff I'm going to do" in a child's handwriting.

**"I'm saving these pages for all the adventures I'm gonna have." An energetic Ellie told Carl under the blanket tent. **

Carl looked at the page and with that memory, began crying. The poor woman had been waiting for this trip for her whole life and now she would never even go. He remembered his visit at the hospital and how Ellie told her to never forget the dream. If she died, it would be a great challenge to go without her. But he promised her he wouldn't forget. Carl smiled sadly walking up the stairs to bed; he couldn't wait to visit her the next morning.

Upon going to the hospital first thing in the morning, it was crowded, but the old man was determined to get to his wife as soon as possible. He only waited three minutes before his name was called.

"Mr. Fredricksen, we hate to tell you this, but Ellie has died." The nurse informed him as soon as he arrived to her room.

"C-can I see her?" Carl asked, feeling the same way he felt when he found out he couldn't be a father.

"Of course, sir." She replied.

Carl slowly walked up to his wife's bedside. He put her lifeless cold hand in his before he knelt down, carefully caressing it like it was ceramic. Ellie looked as if an angel visited her, so peaceful and assured. To Carl, she was more beautiful than she had been. He laid his head next to her side and wept. The nurse stepped in quietly, and Carl turned his head.

"She died last night in her sleep." The nurse told him handing him a Kleenex box.

"Thank you." Carl whispered.

After an hour of staying with his wife, he returned home. He sat himself down and held himself crying some more. He was alone now.

_I have to continue the dream. _He thought slowly looking down at the adventure book, his eyesight blurry with tears. _It may take time, but the dream will go on. _He looked at a small portrait of Ellie on the wall. He hobbled wearily to it and kissed Ellie. _I promise, Ellie._


End file.
